A charismatic dragon and skilled mage whose actions in the first days of TheChanges catapulted him to instant fame, Redwing is the world's best-known (if not necessarily most-loved) therianthrope celebrity. His fingerprints are on virtually every major event in TTU's first eras, and depending who you talk to, possibly even The Changes themselves.

Redwing is a fairly large (non-metallic) copper-brown dragon with, as might be guessed, bright red wing surfaces. Two straight horns jut back from the sides of his head, set off by a mane of red hair that tapers off halfway down his neck.

In human form, he's of below-average height with a well-sculpted form and short, spiky brown hair (he dyed it red in college but has since given the practice up). He has red line-art tattoos of stylized wings on his shoulder blades.

After The Changes, virtually everything Redwing has done has been dissected, analyzed, and debated to death. But before The Changes, his life was seemingly ordinary.

Available documents paint a picture of an ambitious but unfocused man. Until late 1996, Dennis Carpenter worked occasional freelance jobs in media relations for Colorado firms while managing a Boulder coffee shop named The Dragon's Roost. Before that, Dennis dropped out of graduate school in public relations to pursue employment.

He graduated with an A-minus average and a B.A. in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder. While there, he ran for a minor student government office and lost; he won a regional Debate Club award; and he briefly wrote for the school newspaper. His college entrance exam essay was about how the world would be different with dragons in it. Amusingly, virtually none of those predictions matched the reality of The Changes.

Under the name Redwing, Dennis was a prolific poster to several dragon-related Internet newsgroups; he was quite open about his belief in his inner dragon nature, and was a recognized and well-liked figure in those online circles. Many theris attribute his effectiveness as a leader immediately after The Changes to the connections he built up before them.

Oddly, documentation of Dennis' early life is far more solid than witnesses to it. While his pre-Changes coworkers, classmates, teachers and Internet friends can all describe the man and their interactions with him, few can provide any personal details beyond the well-publicized. For example, the location of his childhood home and the first names of his parents are known from elementary school records, but none of the people who lived near the house remember much beyond the family's presence. Efforts to trace Redwing's close relatives have also come up blank. His birth certificate, which would have positively identified his parents, was destroyed in a 1977 fire. Redwing explains these things away as coincidence and the legacy of a private family; others suspect deeper conspiracies at work.

It is widely accepted that Redwing was the dragon seen in EventTheFirstSighting, and much evidence independently supports this. For instance, several of his Boulder friends told media that he canceled a social engagement the evening of EventTheFirstSighting with the excuse that he was "heading east to visit relatives." Also, experts' consensus is that the dragon seen in the video footage is an exact match for Redwing's features and coloration.

However, the man himself dithered about that sighting when first asked; finally denied it when pressed on the question; and to this day hasn't changed his story despite the evidence. Redwing continues to strenuously deny his involvement, refusing to explain or discuss it further except to say that people are entitled to think whatever they want but he knows he wasn't on the streets of Nebraska that day.

Group/circle/coven: An outside/occasional member of several online circles, but no known "primary" group

Personal spellcasting style: Very rarely publically casts spells. Almost always maintains several subtle effects (including defense, sensory, and some say social influence), but his general style is to not draw attention to his magical skill. When he does, witnesses say it's a largely impromptu style, with occasional gestures but no words, and no strong stylistic influences.

Facts about Redwing's pre-Changes magical training are as vague as their more mundane counterparts. Redwing himself has mentioned he got his start with some college friends, although none of these friends has publically surfaced. (Many suspect CharacterElf is one of them.) One or two mages Redwing has worked with online say that he told them he was self-taught, but there's no evidence to be found for or against this. What is known for certain is that he hung out at the edges of several online mage circles, occasionally participating in their rituals or trading tips; he definitely sharpened his skills this way. Redwing cast his first (post-Changes) spell "shortly after [his] first change to dragon," but he declines to speak much about the time before the EventLosAngelesRiots.

As a highly public figure and (in later eras) survivor of three assassination attempts, Redwing is never to be found without several layers of defenses against magical and mundane attacks. He'll publically work magic in self-defense or when he's deliberately establishing magic as a force for public good (such as the EventLosAngelesRiots), but otherwise prefers to work behind the scenes -- he puts a lot of (wasted) effort into carefully cultivating a public image as a regular guy "who just happens to be a dragon."

Many mages complain, especially in TTU's later eras, of Redwing's advocacy for things they see as limiting the power of magic. For example, after the EventBrogiAccident in January 1997, Redwing walks a fine line on teleportation, discouraging its use while never saying so in that many words. Redwing also is a supporter of thaumometer technology, arguing it ultimately helps mages by reassuring non-mages they have some control over this supernatural force.

Years after TheChanges, Redwing also produced a series of magical-safety television commercials for the U.S. Agency for Spells and Magitechnology -- and while the commercials' goal was admirable, the ASM inspires such loathing among many mages that Redwing's cooperation led a number of them to brand him as a traitor.

Despite this, Redwing is also a public advocate for mages and magic, and has argued the long-term solution for magical power imbalances is to teach willworking to all children.

Reputation: Because of his fame and his pivotal involvement in many of TTU's historic events, he's one of those people that it's impossible not to have an opinion about. He's pretty consistently a media darling, but public opinion swings widely based on era and recent events. In December 1996, he's a superman; in early January 1997, he's a rebel; after EventTheMeeting, he's a dangerous revolutionary; by EraWinterOfDiscontent, he's started to claw his way back to respectability, though it would ultimately take years and never return him to his former glory.

Support for him is strongest among liberals, though his base shifts centerward over the years. In early eras, mages and theris think highly of him, and if he had declared war he would have had a dangerous following ... but he becomes an apostate among "his own kind" as he tries to reclaim the middle ground destroyed by EventTheMeeting. In later eras, many mages take pains to distance themselves from him, and see him as a warning of what they could become if they knuckle too far under to the world's demands.

Group affiliations: Advisory board member of GroupSANE.Locations: Often in Los Angeles or New York, due to an apparently unending stream of media appearances; or Washington, D.C., due to government lobbying, demonstrations, and more media appearances. Regularly spotted in theri towns, such as Seligman, Ariz., or the San Francisco area. His private home office is in San Francisco, if the phone number he uses is any indication.

In the first eras of TTU, Redwing is the therianthrope community's unofficial leader and a widely respected figure even among humans. After his intervention in EventTheFlyby, his popularity drops among the human public, and after EventTheMeeting, it plummets. He eventually does recover that good will as a more moderate theri figure, but in later years remains haunted by the reputation the first few months cemented around him (as a dangerous revolutionary or a sellout, depending on who you talk to).

Redwing is one of the only therianthropes to be a published author, the first of his works being 1997's "We Walk Among You." He is an extremely recognizable media figure, and a constant interview guest and talk show panelist. Even those who dislike him still use all the ideas he brought to public view -- not the least of which was the word "therianthrope" itself.

Whatever the public opinion of him might be, one thing is indisputable: No theri is talked about more than Redwing; no man in modern times has more legends and rumors built up around him. The theories range from the plausible to the flat-out loony.

Rumor has it that Redwing knows more than he's letting on about the purpose for The Changes, and its path in the future -- although he says this is flat-out wrong. A few make the odd claim that he's not a dragon at all (to which he responds, "I'd tell, but that would be cheating"); or that he's Elvis, still alive and with a lot of plastic surgery under his belt ("I kind of doubt it. I hate donuts"); or that he's the subject of over 14 of Nostradamus' quatrains ("Probably. Who can tell?"). Redwing finds the rumor that he is actually several centuries old humorous, and has learned to laugh at being labeled "The Beast" by religious extremists. (He once famously quipped, "GroupTheGuardianKnights keep getting it wrong. I'm not just 'evil,' I'm Satan himself. Didn't they get the memo?")

In person, he lives up to his reputation as an engaging speaker, being generally outgoing and possessed of a sharp wit. Even after years of fighting the same battles, he speaks animatedly and passionately about his causes, and continually pulls strings behind the scenes for therianthropes and theri rights. He repeatedly emphasizes that the futures of therianthropy and humanity lie intertwined, though, and seems to spend just as much time trying to help other nonhumans come to terms with their "host species."

Redwing is such an integral part of TTU canon that he should be nearly ubiquitous; there are very few stories where it would be out of place to name-drop him. On the other hand, Redwing is such an integral part of TTU canon that it's nearly impossible to write well about him as a character. Everything he does has such immense impact, and any repercussions of his actions are so enormous, that he probably shouldn't be used at all beyond television cameos, sightings, and the like.

Writers should treat Redwing like a celebrity -- which is to say, someone who we hear a lot about, but somebody who exists primarily or totally through a media filter. Even Redwing's friends and associates very rarely talk to him directly; his full-time media secretary CharacterElf filters his calls, and he's hired several of his friends to jobs screening and answering the bags of fan and/or hate mail he gets each day.

Redwing does occasionally lend a hand to friends stuck in a magical jam, such as with StoryTitaniasToys, but (especially after the events of that story) tries to be extremely secretive about it due to the media fallout of any whiff of scandal on him.